Dollar Named FFIEC Vice Chair

WASHINGTON-NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar has been named the new vice chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. “I am honored to have been selected to serve as vice chair.” Dollar commented. “Having a seat at the table does benefit credit unions and NCUA.” He explained that NCUA had been paying one-sixth of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act processing costs, but credit unions only accounted for 2% of the loan applications. Dollar raised the issue of the disproportionate numbers; the entire calculation was reformulated and NCUA ended up saving approximately $120,000 this year, according to Dollar. The various agency heads on the council do not vote on issues that do not affect them. Dollar estimated that only about 25% of the issues considered by FFIEC affect credit unions. For example, he said recently that the banking regulators made changes to their call reports, but the Office of Thrift Supervision and NCUA abstained from voting because they have their own forms. He will serve under the new chairman,OTS Director James Gilleran, for a two-year term. The chairman oversees council staff on behalf of the FFIEC members and presides over meetings. The vice chair fulfills this role when the chair is unable to. Gilleran succeeds Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Donald Powell. FFIEC was created by the Federal Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 to promote uniformity with respect to examination and supervisory policies and procedures in the supervision of financial institutions. The heads of the FDIC, NCUA, OTS, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and a Federal Reserve Board Governor make up the council.